Search Engine Optimization: Your Foundation for Findability

If you’re skeptical of the term SEO (Search Engine Optimization) you’re not alone. The majority of business owners feel it’s a scam and are skeptical of the costs and whether it works. They have been burned already by an SEO firm, feel they don’t need it or they think can do it themselves to save money. There are plenty of business owners who SEO their own sites and do just fine in search engine results…for now.

SEO is not a one-time activity you complete and are then done with. The challenge is keeping up with the changes — not only in online technology and how search engines categorize your website — but user intention and what people are searching for on the internet. That is why a business needs a long term plan to evaluate, adjust and refresh their online activities.

Websites can become outdated very quickly. You can’t afford to have customers finding your competitors instead of you. Search Engine Optimization is an ongoing activity for as long as you own that website because it ensures you are well represented in search engine results.

Let’s put SEO into perspective and consider why it’s important. Simply put, it’s your foundation for business visibility and findability online. Without the foundation, the rest of your online marketing methods won’t perform as well. Without the foundation, you’ll be grabbing for straws every time you need to develop a new marketing campaign online. Foundation gives you structure and something tangible to build upon and measure results from

So, as you begin to think of SEO as your website foundation, there are several things you need to do to make sure that foundation is compliant…just like building a house. You probably wouldn’t build your own house unless you had some mad carpentry skills. Think of all the components needed…concrete, framing, electrical, plumbing. In building SEO into the foundation of your website, there are also several components required to make sure the search engines see your site as legitimate and compliant with search engine standards…page speed, accessibility, code, descriptive content. It’s not just stuffing your keywords in the keywords meta tag. The search engines keep up with hundreds of details on how a website should function properly – and they change constantly. Anything you can do to reduce functional barriers on your website is important to search engine optimization.